The NLRB’s “poster” regulation – which would have required employers to post biased notices of employees’ rights to organize under the NLRA – is effectively dead.

In August 2013, in a case brought by the Chamber, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied the Board’s petition for rehearing of its decision that the NLRB lacked statutory authority to promulgate the regulation. In September 2013, in a separate challenge to the rule, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed the Board’s petition to review its previous decision which held that the regulation violated employers’ free speech rights.

January 2 was the deadline for the Board to file its petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review both cases. The Board did not file. This puts an end to both the litigation over the rule and, ultimately, the rule itself.

This is an important victory for the baking industry and the business community in general. However, ABA fully expects the fully-confirmed National Labor Relations Board to move forward with even more damaging proposals in 2014, including a reissuance of the ambush election rule. ABA will continue to work with Congress to ensure that proper oversight is given of the NLRB’s activist agenda, and seek to support legislation that would curtail possible onerous new rules and regulations.